The Clark to Air London National Theatre's The Habit of Art

For Immediate Release

November 20, 2013

Williamstown, MA—Renowned British playwright Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art, an encore production of London’s National Theatre, airs at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on Thursday, December 12 at 2 pm. Tickets are $18 ($15 members). To order tickets, visitclarkart.edu or call 413 458 0524.
The Daily Telegraph of London calls the play “another absolute cracker, often wonderfully and sometimes filthily funny, but also deeply and unexpectedly moving.”

Starring Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings, and Frances de la Tour, The Habit of Art returns as part of the National Theatre's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Bennett’s “play within a play” was inspired by his time spent in the National Theatre’s rehearsal rooms.

The play centers around Benjamin Britten (Alex Jennings), sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice. He seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W. H. Auden (Richard Griffiths). During this imagined meeting, their first in twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, among others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station.

The Habit of Art, as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music, looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men and at the ethics of biography.

Due to construction activity at the Clark, parking is limited. Plan to arrive twenty minutes before the performance.

About the Clark

Set amidst 140 acres in the Berkshires, the Clark is one of the few major art museums that also serves as a leading international center for research and scholarship. The Clark presents public and education programs and organizes groundbreaking exhibitions that advance new scholarship. The Clark’s research and academic programs include an international fellowship program and conferences. Together with Williams College, the Clark sponsors one of the nation’s leading master’s programs in art history.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Stone Hill Center galleries are open; admission is free. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.